After a rather lengthy legislative process, Directive (EU) 2019/633 (the "UTP Directive") was implemented in Romania on 12 April 2022 by Law No. 81/2022 on unfair trade practices (UTPs) between companies within the agricultural and food supply chain (the "UTP Law"). It sets out a new set of rules applicable to food retailers and suppliers that have an annual turnover of around EUR 2m.

On 31 March 2022, the Romanian Ministry of Energy launched a call for projects under a new state aid scheme for supporting the development of new wind and solar power plants, with or without integrated power storage capacities (the "Support Scheme").

Schoenherr has advised BlackPeak Capital on its EUR 7.5 million equity investment into EUShipments.com and its subsidiary InOut Trade. Wolf Theiss advised the founders of EUShipments.com and InOut Trade.

In a preliminary ruling following a request by the German Federal Court of Justice (case C-371/20), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) interpreted Point 11 of Annex I to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29/EC; UCP-Directive). This provision aims at preventing the use of editorial content in the media to promote a product where a business has paid for the promotion without making this clear in the content or through images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer (advertorial).

On February 24, four leading lawyers in Croatia sat down for a virtual round table moderated by CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor Radu Cotarcea. The conversation focused on the current state of affairs of ESG in the country at the moment and the challenges of raising awareness in the topic.

Schoenherr has advised Solus Advanced Materials subsidiary Volta Energy Solutions Hungary on its acquisition of a 120,000 square meters land plot from Ipari Projekt Hungaria. Solo practitioner Miklos Miszkuly reportedly advised the seller.

War-related concerns have put the new government’s plans and a number of business transactions on hold, according to Schoenherr Local Partner Ilko Stoyanov.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple. But in the case of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, it just might be. Russia breached Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Russia's acts have prompted the EU, the UK and the US to impose economic sanctions, such as freezing assets and disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments network. Whilst the number of private businesses that are halting their activities in Russia is steadily growing, Russia has adopted a law paving the way for expropriations of assets of foreign firms that leave the country following economic sanctions. But what can foreign companies do if Russia proceeds to take their assets, if they are unable to freely transfer returns from investments out of Russia or if their profits collapse?

Contributed by Schoenherr.

BPV Huegel advised Immofinanz on competing takeover bids by the CPI Property Group and S Immo, while Schoenherr advised Immofinanz’ supervisory board. Wolf Theiss reportedly advised CPI on the acquisition.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represents one of the worst security crises in Europe. It is also expected to have far-reaching implications for the global economy, particularly given Russia’s role as the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas. Sanctions will mean higher energy prices in Europe.

The Hungarian Competition Authority ordered online shop Alza to compensate consumers for a total amount 11 times as much as the fine to be paid to the HCA.

The Hungarian Competition Authority ("HCA") has published a summary report of its 2021 activities. The HCA opened 51 competition proceedings against 124 undertakings, almost 25% more than in the previous year, and 42 cases were closed in 2021.

In view of the gravity of the current situation in Ukraine, the EU has introduced further restrictive measures related to Russia's finance, defence, energy, aviation, and space sectors. This Legal Insight will give you a brief overview of the sanctions regime as of 27 February 2022.

Former Counsel Daniel Gera has been promoted to Local Partner with Schoenherr’s office in Hungary as of February 1, 2022.

Back in September 2021, the revised Act on the prohibition of unfair trading practices in the business-to-business food supply chain (the "UTPs Act") entered into force. As in all other EU Member States, the Croatian UTPs Act was revised to bring Croatia's legal framework in the area of unfair trading practices in business-to-business relations in the agricultural and food supply chain into compliance with the UTPs Directive.

Often associated with public sector emergency services, on-call work is being increasingly used by private sector employers to meet their business needs and ensure that unexpected problems or requests are immediately resolved.

PHH has advised Drees & Sommer on the acquisition of Vienna-based Die Werkbank IT. Germany-based Greenfort and Schoenherr reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.